SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Prime Minister Theresa May is heading to India in the hopes of finding new business ventures for a post-Brexit Britain, and is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday on her first official visit outside of Europe.
India, logistically, makes sense as the first option for British lawmakers who are eager to find new business for the United Kingdom —trade between the two countries last year was over $16 billion, and the U.K. has accounted for 9% of total foreign investment into India over the past 15 years.
That could just be the tip of the iceberg, especially as the South Asian nation opens up further and cements its place as the world’s fastest-growing economy.
“Britain will need very strong trading ties with some of the large markets, and I believe India, along with China, [is] probably the most sought after market,” Mihir Kapadia, CEO of London-based firm Sun Global Investments, told CNN Money.
Finance and technology likely represent the two areas the two countries are looking to improve their relationship the most, Kapadia said. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs investors to help boost local manufacturing.
“India is looking for a huge amount of investments, especially in the infrastructure sector,” Kapadia said.
There’s a grave amount at stake for India as well — 1.5 million Indians live in Britain, and Indian companies (like the Tata Group, which owns Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea) employ over 100,000 people in the U.K.
Moreover, Theresa May’s government has just issued new visa restrictions that make it even harder for companies to transfer foreign workers to the U.K.
“Indian students and people-to-people relations are important pillars of India-U.K. ties,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry, said Thursday. “We expect mobility issues to be raised during the visit.”
